Summer Ends Sunday Suicidal Idols Purity 839

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of the countryside illuminated in the light of the setting sun just off of Waite Road in Easton comes to us from yours truly as I took some quick pics to capture the splendor of September as I took my canine companion Harley for a late afternoon afternoon walk yesterday. Well, we are past the ides of September, and it is my prayer that all my friends enjoy the last weekend of summer as the season officially will end with the autumnal equinox on Thursday the 22nd. Even though the autumnal equinox is used to mark the season, the weather and return to school usually give us a fall feeling before it arrives. This year we had an abrupt shift in the weather on Labor Day weekend in the Capital District of Upstate New York, as we experienced sunshine and a high of 81 degrees on Sunday, only to crash into Labor Day Monday with heavy rains and a drop to 66 degrees. I remember thinking on Labor Day, wow, there goes summer. And then I remember that the previous day, while out walking under the heat of the sun, I had a real sense of urgency that summer was slipping away, and I had a decision to make in terms of what to do with the rest of the day. I decided to spend the day with my wife indoors and have no regrets about it. But after Labor Day storms and relative chill, I remembered that feeling during that Sunday walk that this was it. And I poetically thought about this prophetic intuition with the phrase Summer and Sunday. And when I thought about— when that thought came up, when I came up with that, I thought that the phrase Summer and Sunday would be an awesome name for an alternative band. We are Summer and Sunday. Good night. And all of this comes flooding back into my recollections this morning because as I finished up my Bible study and emailed myself the photo of the day from my iPhone, I fell victim to some clickbait on Yahoo that teased "Rocker's Wife States Husband Had Delirium Before Suicide" or something like that. And so I wondered, uh, wondered who it was referring to and discovered it led to a story about the recent interview of Vicky Cornell, the, the widow of the former frontman of Soundgarden and Audioslave, Chris Cornell, who took his life in 2017. So it was a recent interview, but not exactly recent news on the rocker's death. You can research the details of Cornell's death if you like, but the recent interview by his widow and her comments about his delirium before his death, coupled with the fact that he had a history of substance abuse and was on some prescription medications, which the family alleged were overprescribed and caused Cornell to act erratically before his suicide. Um, if you consider all of that, um, one could easily speculate and make the case for demonic influence as a contributing factor, uh, to his death as well. Um, Christ tells us that the enemy, uh, in John 10:10 that the thief does not come except to steal and to kill and destroy, as Christ knew well from Satan's temptation of him in the wilderness in Matthew 4:5-6. That tells us, then the devil took him up into a holy city, set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, he shall give his angels charge over you. And in their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. So the devil takes Jesus to a high place and tells him to jump, to tempt, to tempt God with his safety and potentially kill himself. The enemy's mission to kill and destroy us includes tempting us to suicide. From my volunteer work with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and from from listening to testimonies of survivors of suicide attempts and the families of people who died of suicide, I know that Cornell's widow's claims of delirium and, and surrounding factors of Cornell's death are not unique. And because of my biblical worldview, education in Christian counseling, my training as a CFMA for Freedom in Christ Ministries, and my experience personally with addiction, depression, condemning thoughts, and thoughts suicide, I would state that spiritual forces of darkness or the spiritual conditions in someone's life play a part in every suicide, either through direct demonic influence or simply from a worldview of hopelessness that is born out of an atheistic worldview. People suffer and will continue to die from suicide. This is obviously not a popular theory to bring to the discussion discussion of suicide prevention. Our Western post-Christian society denies the involvement of the spirit realm in our day-to-day lives and seeks to silence the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the confusion of, quote, existence and the proliferation of the idea that all roads lead to God. And we suffer for it. The issues of mental health and suicide will continue to plague our world as we are enmeshed in a culture that refuses to offend anyone with the biblical standards of morality, with the standard of truth that is based on the Bible, or the solutions for negative mind states that are available through the application of biblical wisdom to the way we live our lives. To state that someone is living in sin, or even to suggest that someone turn from drugs, alcohol, and sex that is outside the bonds of a marriage between a man and a woman, and instead to turn to God and live according to his ways, almost laughable to our secular society, or is met with stern opposition and fierce hatred that would condemn Christians as judgmental, hateful bigots. The world laments over its problems, seeks the cold comforts of better life through chemistry, and wonders why things seem to be getting worse because it refuses to accept the answer that God sent to save us all— Jesus Christ. So society, through its rejection or separation from God, or nominal lip service to him that says, 'I believe,' but refuses to follow him in any discernible way, is plagued with the subject and subject to temptations and the oppression of spiritual forces of darkness. Ephesians 4:26-27 tell us, 'Be angry and do not sin. Do Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Our sin, and everyone sins to some extent, makes us vulnerable to the devil. However, Christians have been set free. Romans 8:2 tells us, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." Faith in Christ not only gives us power over death with our eternal life in the Kingdom of God guaranteed, It also gives us the power to say no to sin. We won't be perfect, but we can progress in our freedom and victory to the sins that beset us. And if we stumble on the road to sanctification, because of our life-giving relationship with God through our faith in Christ, we have a way to reestablish our harmony with him. 1 John 1:9 tells us, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." So in Christ we have an advocate and a constant source of power and peace to guide us in the way we should go, and to comfort us and remind us of why we need a Savior when we stray from His path. Our American dream culture, whose philosophy is centered around circumstantial happiness, fails to satisfy and provide meaning and purpose to life. The enemy uses sins and disappointments to to drive us to confusion and despair and to destroy ourselves. As I did some research about Chris Cornell, I decided to Google grunge artists that killed themselves and discovered that the search showed that 13 musicians from the grunge era of the mid-1990s to the early 2000s had either died of suicide or overdoses to drugs. The grunge movement was passionate about living life to the fullest and loving others deeply. But without God to give peace, the fruits it produced proved to be rotten, and its idols proved to be suicidal. As I was in college from 1990 to 1994, I knew most of the names and were fans of quite a few of the lost on the list, and it just reminded me that I was extremely blessed to have survived because I had been well-versed in the spirit of rebellion and licentious living that surrounded the alternative music genre, and the utter hopelessness that results from a lifestyle that has nothing to do and nothing to believe in other than seeking to please and affirm itself. Grunge defied, defied and disdained tradition, polite and polite society and rejected God and biblical values. And the results are talented individuals lost to drug overdoses and suicide. And those things are still happening and are on the increase in our post-COVID, increasingly confused society today. So let me encourage you, myself and you and others out there who know the truth that has set them free, that have been saved because of their faith in Jesus. We have the answer in Christ. My relationship with God through faith in Jesus took me out of the darkness of depression, suicidal thoughts, and addiction, and I know I am not special. Similar testimonies to mine are spoken of throughout the history of Christianity, so we have to let others know No, the way out of the darkness and into a life of peace with God, is with God that begins here on earth and follows us into eternity. This world broken by sin can break your heart. Speaking of God, Psalm 147:3 says, "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." Isaiah 41:10 tells us, "Fear not, For I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Psalm 55:22 says, Cast your burden on the Lord, and he shall sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved. God is close to us, and when we turn to him, he heals us and sustains us. So keep walking and talking with God, and When you encounter someone who has no hope, let them know that the Lord loves them, but the way out of the darkness requires that they make peace with Him by making Jesus their Lord and Savior, and it also requires that they abide in Him by staying in His presence and casting out the spiritual forces of darkness by confessing any sin and living a righteous life based on the Word of God. This morning's— today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is Psalm 18:28, and it says, you light a lamp for me, the Lord my God lights up my darkness. Today's Bible verse speaks of the illuminating power of God. God is a lamp for all of us. He lights up our darkness by showing us his love that was displayed and embodied in Jesus Christ, and when we put our faith in Him, we benefit and share in the Light of the World. But, as I have stated above, we have to let His light shine by living like Him. We cannot live in the darkness of sin if we are to claim to be a part of His Kingdom. The enemy tempts us and seeks to destroy us subtly by forgetting about God's perfect light and creating footholds in our lives through our sin or disbelief. So let the light of God shine in your life. Let him light up your darkness to show you the abundant life that Christ came to give you. As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org, where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Discipleship, also known as The Cost of Discipleship. And today we continue sharing from chapter 2, The Call of Discipleship. And it's just a very short section, but, uh, you gotta, you gotta break it up thematically. So today there's a section basically on the steps, uh, to answering the call of Christ. So call— Christ calls every one of us to come to him. While many are called, few will answer. But there's no reason to lose hope because we might save some. The Lord saved me in dramatic fashion through a radio message, and I've seen the Lord move in people's lives. I've seen, um, people who didn't have faith, you know, suddenly transformed when they when they realized that the Lord loved them and that all they had to do was put their faith in Jesus to be forgiven and to have peace with God and the assurance of eternal life. And, you know, that's where it starts. And the freedom and victory that you receive in the moment of your salvation can pour out into other areas of your life as His light dispels the darkness of negative mind states and your sin as you repent of it. You know, you, you understand the light of the Lord when you get out of the darkness of the world system and the sin that so easily besets us. And so, yeah, so I've— as, as a volunteer for AFSP, I've heard testimonies about people people who survived suicide, or, you know, from family members who have been lost to suicide. And there's always a spirit of brokenness, usually sin in the person's life. And from one man's testimony about his attempted suicide off the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco— you can Google it— he was oppressed by thoughts to kill himself. And the moment he threw himself over the edge of the bridge, the thoughts departed. And his testimony, you know, his thoughts were, "Oh my, I don't want to die." And you know, everything— now you could say that's regret, but I'd say it was the enemy. Influencing his thoughts, driving him to throw himself from a high place, just like he tempted Jesus. And, um, the enemy— there's a sinister element there to these negative thoughts, guys. That's not us, it's the enemy. It's the spiritual forces of darkness that come to steal, kill, and destroy us. And, you know, why would I want to think like that? Well, the answer is you wouldn't. You know, um, it's, it's an alien presence. And, uh, sometimes they describe them, you know, disguise the thoughts they give us by putting them in the first person. I hate my life is, uh, I'm pretty sure one of the slogans of the enemy. I want to die. I can't take it anymore. You know, this is pointless. All these things. Nobody, nobody wants to think those things, but they feel frustrated and disappointed with the circumstances of their lives and want the pain to stop. And the enemy offers a solution, a final solution that would, you know, if you don't have a relationship with Christ, would lead you straight to hell. So it's— why would the enemy do that? To destroy you. And so we fight the enemy. We, we deny the lies that come into our heads that disagree with the Word of God, and we stand on our faith in Jesus Christ, our identity in Christ, to live a life of peace and hope, because we know that this world is not our own and we have life everlasting. In the kingdom of God. And so we can enjoy it here and we can enjoy it in eternity. There's nothing to fear and there's nothing to be, you know, sad about. Granted, there will be sad things that happen in life, but from an ultimate perspective, God has answers for all the sufferings of the world that'll be realized in Jesus Christ's return. And we can have peace in our suffering because of our relationship with God. So we encourage that here at mt4christ.org. I was a big fan of grunge back in the day. It was very rebellious, high octane, you know, and it was very, you know, what is it, self-aggrandizing. Which most secular music is. It doesn't point to higher things, just points to us. There's no hope in us. The hope is in Christ and God. And so that's why I, I more or less rejected secular music, you know, as something to listen to. The narrative in secular music would lead us to despair or lust, you know. So those things are sin and we don't want to go into them. So we listen to Christian music, and particularly music that, you know, glorifies God above our experience in Christ. Not all Christian music, you know, give glory to God. Surprise. So be discerning with that. It is the last weekend in September, or well, the summer, so I encourage everyone to have fun and to you know, enjoy what God has given you in your life and out in the world. Yesterday I saw people have begun apple picking, so that's a thing you do. Good luck and enjoy it. You know, God gave us life to enjoy it, not to destroy it. So let's try to, let's try to follow him and give him glory and honor by living a good life and proclaiming the life everlasting that people can have, and the peace that people can have, and the victory that people can have, and the freedom that people can have when they make Jesus the Lord of their life. So that's it for today. I just want to say a quick prayer and we'll roll out of here. Um, Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you, uh, for saving us. Thank you for making us. Thank you for guiding us out of the darkness into the light. Lord, we pray for anyone listening today that they would know that in Christ they have the answers to life and godliness. And, um, if they simply apply it to their lives, they can have peace. But it's an application that's required to go with you forever and abide with you forever. So Lord, we just pray for anyone listening to be encouraged to keep walking and talking with God, to keep following you, Lord, and keep listening to your voice. Instead of the voice of the enemy, and to confirm everything that they hear, uh, through the word of God and its wisdom. Oh Lord, we just thank you so much. Uh, we pray for you to, uh, guide us into today, open our eyes to everything we need to see, and, uh, show us the way, uh, to go and, uh, to best represent you here on the earth. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.